The notes below accompany a talk Wes Wada gave March 16 before the Central Oregon Flyfishers’ monthly meeting. The topic is the use of Weather Underground’s web site and apps to plan fly fishing trips. The links below are for that talk. The discussion will expand into a FlyFoundry.com article and downloadable tutorial in the future.

If you invest a lot of time outdoors fishing and camping, the reasons are obvious why accurate weather forecasts will lessen difficulties and increase your enjoyment. Fishing big waters can be dangerous in high wind and storms, so safety is another big factor that you can’t ignore.

The accuracy of weather forecasting is much enhanced from the past. Improvements in computer models have meant that roughly every three years, we can add one day further out that can be accurately foretold. Forecasts right now – ranging from a week to 10 days in the future – are remarkably on-target and dependable, and this would have been impossible or just sheer luck a decade ago.

Forecast Advantages
1. Trip Planning (up to 10 days prior)
2. Avoiding Severe Weather
3. Timing Your Day on the Water
4. Knowing Wind Speed and Direction
5. Picking Days with Good Cloud Cover
6. Knowing the times for First and Last Light
7. Being aware of Barometric trends and Moon Phase.